Opoku Ware

Opoku Ware was a significant ruler of the Asante empire, a West African state that flourished in what is now southern Ghana during the 18th and 19th centuries. He ruled approximately from 1720 to 1750. Under his leadership, the Asante empire expanded to its greatest territorial extent. The Asante were involved in the slave trade, trading enslaved people with European merchants for firearms, which aided their expansion. Opoku Ware's reign followed a period of internal strife after the death of the empire's founder, Osei Tutu. The Asante empire eventually resisted British influence in the 19th century but was ultimately declared a British crown colony in 1902.1